Flooding displaces thousands after 4 days of heavy rainfall in Argentina and Uruguay

Heavy rain has affected Uruguay and northern provinces of Argentina,
causing several rivers to overflow and prompting the evacuation of
thousands of people. Some local media reports claim over half a metre of rain has fallen in some areas of Argentina in the last 4 days.One man is reported to have died after drowning in a swollen river in Entre Ríos.

Argentina

Thousands have been affected by heavy rain and flooding in the provinces of Entre Ríos, Corrientes and Santa Fe.

Heavy rain has also affected parts of the province of Formosa where
thousands are yet to return to their homes since the Paraguay River
overflowed in December 2015.

WATCH: Floods in La Paz.

Entre Rios

Telam news agency say that 7,000 people have been displaced by
floods in Entre Ríos province. Severe flooding has been reported in the
municipalities of Federación, San José de Feliciano, Villaguay and
Colón.

One man died in the floods when he was swept away by an overflowing river between the towns of Sosa and El Tala.

The city of La Paz, in the west of the province, has suffered
the worst of the torrential rain. According to province authorities,
more than 7,500 people have been affected.The Cabayú Cuatia
River overflowed causing damage, closure of bridges and forcing the
displacement of people living in the Estación neighbourhood. Houses were
also flooded in the neighbourhoods of Milagrosa, Puerto and Ribera del
Paraná.

The Ministry of Social Development have distributed blankets,
food and other relief items to those affected.Several roads have been inundated, with many cars dragged by the water, causing significant issues to local transportation.

In San José de Feliciano, in the north, 400 people are homeless after
two small rivers - the Coronel and Carrizo - overflowed. Talking to
Telam, the city's mayor, Silvia del Carmen Moreno, said that Feliciano had seen over half a metre of rain since Saturday 02 April.

Corrientes

In Esquina, a town of 40,000 inhabitants in the south of
Correnties province, more than 75% of the town was under water. As many
as 300 people have been evacuated, and water reached the height of 1
metre in some neighbourhoods. More than 5,000 people have been affected
by the floods across the province.

Santa Fe

Heavy rain has affected areas in the north of Sana Fe province, in
particular the town of Alejandra, which according to local media, has recorded 550 mm of rain in the last 4 days. Significant parts of the town are completely flooded, and around 20 people have been evacuated.

Intense Rain

The heavy rain began to fall on 05 April 2016. According to the
Argentina National Meteorological Service (Servicio Nacional de
Meteorologia, SMN), 70 mm of rain in 24 hours was recorded in
Gualeguaychu, in Entre Ríos Province, Argentina. The station of Monte
Caseros, in Corrientes Province, recorded 81 mm of rain between 05 and
06 April 2016.

According to data reported by authorities in Entre Ríos, as much as 296.4 mm were recorded at Feliciano station,in the north of the province, on 05 April 2016.

In a statement yesterday by the Crisis Committee of Civil Defense of the Municipality of La Paz, it was reported that 345 mm of rain fell between 04 and 06 April.

Further significant rainfall is expected to affect the north of Argentina until Saturday, 09 April 2016.Uruguay

As an result of the heavy rain in the upper part of the watershed, water
levels in the Uruguay River are rising. A point of particular concern
is the area downstream of the Salto hydropower plant.

The high amount of water reaching the reservoir forced the managing
authority (Comisión Técnica Mixta de Salto Grande) to release higher
discharges from the spillway and the outlet. As a result, Uruguay River
levels at Salto and Paysandú will exceed the warning thresholds of 12
and 5.5 metres respectively.As a precaution, local authorities of Civil
Defence organised the evacuation of 27 people in Salto and 5 in
Paysandú.

Cars swept away as Arabian peninsula is slammed with deluges of rain and hail

Extreme gust of winds are also accompanying the stormy weather
sometimes creating sand tornado and sandstorms around Al-Jouf, Hail,
Tabuk and Medina.

So the cold air mass coming from the north and the warm and moist air
coming from the south created a kind of belt in the middle of the
country which creates intense and apocalyptical thunderstorms (see map
above).

Ta'if is a city in Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia situated in the Al-Sarawat Mountains and is right in the eye of the storm.
This extreme weather is also present in Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and western Yemen.

April 8, 2016 - ARIZONA / CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES - A "suspicious" brush fire broke out in Arizona and spread into
California on Wednesday, sparking the evacuation of two recreational
vehicle parks, as hot and dry weather complicated efforts to contain the
blaze.

"It's hot and windy and we're expecting the fire to grow," said Jeff
Allen, an engineer and paramedic with the San Bernardino County Fire
Department in Southern California. Allen said the fire was 5 percent
contained.

The fire broke out as agencies across the western United States gear up
for what is expected to be another busy fire season in a region
suffering the effects of a prolonged drought, including millions of
trees dead from lack of water.

In 2015, more than 10 million acres burned in wildfires nationwide, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

Authorities said Wednesday's fire started at about 4:30 a.m.
local time in the Havasu National Wildlife Refuge, which spans both
California and Arizona, and jumped the Colorado River, burning through
river bottom vegetation and Salt Cedar and Mesquite trees.

Firefighters from both states are battling the blaze and additional
crews have been requested, Mohave Valley (Ariz.) Fire District Chief Ted
Martin said in a statement.
Martin called the fire "suspicious in nature," but said it was
too early to determine the cause. Officials reported there was no
lightning in the area and that skies were clear at the time the fire
broke out.

April 8, 2016 - EARTH - The following constitutes the latest reports of animal attacks on humans.

Violent elephant runs amok and kills two mahouts in India

An elephant which turned violent killed both its mahouts besides
creating a ruckus in Champakkara in Kottayam district on Thursday.
Gopinathan Nair, 60, from Karukachal and Akhil (Kannan), 30, from
Ithithanam were killed. It was the elephant Channanikkad Ayyappan which
had turned violent round 3pm.
The elephant floored the first mahout Nair before goring him to
death. Following this the elephant ran out of the compound and the
second mahout Kannan was killed while he tried to chain the elephant. Gopinathan
succumbed to injuries while being taken to the hospital while Kannan
succumbed to injuries at the Medical College Hospital.

The elephant which had turned violent ran nearly seven kilometresbefore tranquilised by veterinary surgeon Sabu C Issac of the elephant
squad by around 4.30pm. The local residents went through tense moments
for over an hour.

The Elephant had turned violent at the compound of Vasudev Kurup. The
elephant was brought here for shifting timber lying in the compound. It
was chained to a tree in the compound by both the mahouts in the morning
after it showed signs of violence. It attacked Gopinathan by
breaking the chains when the mahout had come near the elephant in the
afternoon. Nair was knocked off his feet by its legs and floored him and
then gored him. After this it went out of the compound and ran through
the road.

The second mahout followed him. The elephant entered
Kottayam-Kozhenchery road and reached Koothrappally crossing Subhash
Junction. From here it turned to Palamattam Road. The second mahout got
stuck in front of the elephant and he was lifted using the trunk and was
pressed against a nearby wall fatally injuring him. - Times of India.

Shark attacks jet ski off Fraser Island, Australia

Two incredibly brave (or incredibly stupid) tourists got way too close
to a shark while enjoying a jet ski excursion in Australia and were
lucky to escape without injury.

While cruising around Fraser Island's idyllic blue waters off the coast
of Queensland, the couple noticed a shadow in the waters below and -
cue the Jaws theme - decided to check it out.

Getting far too close for comfort, the pair was lucky to escape
when the shark launched from the water to attack but only connected with
the jet ski and, thankfully, not one of their limbs.

"No one was injured although the jetski did get some small scuff marks
where the shark contacted the ski," the couple wrote online afterwards.

April 8, 2016 - SOUTHERN UNITED STATES - Strong winds associated with a cold front picked up dust and debris and
created a heavy, 160 km (100 miles) wide dust storm that blanketed much
of Texas Panhandle late April 5/April 6, 2016.

NWS Amarillo forecaster Nicholas Fenner said thestorm threw
dust about 610 meters (2,000 feet) into the air. The storm reached as
far north as Oklahoma Panhandle and as far south as Lubbock, Texas
before it dissipated.

There were no reports of any road closures or anyone hurt from the dust storm.

Seismotectonics of the Eastern Margin of the Australia Plate

The
eastern margin of the Australia plate is one of the most sesimically
active areas of the world due to high rates of convergence between the
Australia and Pacific plates. In the region of New Zealand, the 3000 km
long Australia-Pacific plate boundary extends from south of Macquarie
Island to the southern Kermadec Island chain. It includes an oceanic
transform (the Macquarie Ridge), two oppositely verging subduction zones
(Puysegur and Hikurangi), and a transpressive continental transform,
the Alpine Fault through South Island, New Zealand.

Since
1900 there have been 15 M7.5+ earthquakes recorded near New Zealand.
Nine of these, and the four largest, occurred along or near the
Macquarie Ridge, including the 1989 M8.2 event on the ridge itself, and
the 2004 M8.1 event 200 km to the west of the plate boundary, reflecting
intraplate deformation. The largest recorded earthquake in New Zealand
itself was the 1931 M7.8 Hawke's Bay earthquake, which killed 256
people. The last M7.5+ earthquake along the Alpine Fault was 170 years
ago; studies of the faults' strain accumulation suggest that similar
events are likely to occur again.

North of New
Zealand, the Australia-Pacific boundary stretches east of Tonga and Fiji
to 250 km south of Samoa. For 2,200 km the trench is approximately
linear, and includes two segments where old (greater than 120 Myr)
Pacific oceanic lithosphere rapidly subducts westward (Kermadec and
Tonga). At the northern end of the Tonga trench, the boundary curves
sharply westward and changes along a 700 km-long segment from
trench-normal subduction, to oblique subduction, to a left lateral
transform-like structure.

USGS plate tectonics for the region.

Australia-Pacific convergence rates
increase northward from 60 mm/yr at the southern Kermadec trench to 90
mm/yr at the northern Tonga trench; however, significant back arc
extension (or equivalently, slab rollback) causes the consumption rate
of subducting Pacific lithosphere to be much faster. The spreading rate
in the Havre trough, west of the Kermadec trench, increases northward
from 8 to 20 mm/yr. The southern tip of this spreading center is
propagating into the North Island of New Zealand, rifting it apart. In
the southern Lau Basin, west of the Tonga trench, the spreading rate
increases northward from 60 to 90 mm/yr, and in the northern Lau Basin,
multiple spreading centers result in an extension rate as high as 160
mm/yr. The overall subduction velocity of the Pacific plate is the
vector sum of Australia-Pacific velocity and back arc spreading
velocity: thus it increases northward along the Kermadec trench from 70
to 100 mm/yr, and along the Tonga trench from 150 to 240 mm/yr.

The
Kermadec-Tonga subduction zone generates many large earthquakes on the
interface between the descending Pacific and overriding Australia
plates, within the two plates themselves and, less frequently, near the
outer rise of the Pacific plate east of the trench. Since 1900, 40 M7.5+
earthquakes have been recorded, mostly north of 30°S. However, it is
unclear whether any of the few historic M8+ events that have occurred
close to the plate boundary were underthrusting events on the plate
interface, or were intraplate earthquakes. On September 29, 2009, one of
the largest normal fault (outer rise) earthquakes ever recorded (M8.1)
occurred south of Samoa, 40 km east of the Tonga trench, generating a
tsunami that killed at least 180 people.

Across the
North Fiji Basin and to the west of the Vanuatu Islands, the Australia
plate again subducts eastwards beneath the Pacific, at the North New
Hebrides trench. At the southern end of this trench, east of the Loyalty
Islands, the plate boundary curves east into an oceanic transform-like
structure analogous to the one north of Tonga.

Australia-Pacific
convergence rates increase northward from 80 to 90 mm/yr along the
North New Hebrides trench, but the Australia plate consumption rate is
increased by extension in the back arc and in the North Fiji Basin. Back
arc spreading occurs at a rate of 50 mm/yr along most of the subduction
zone, except near ~15°S, where the D'Entrecasteaux ridge intersects the
trench and causes localized compression of 50 mm/yr in the back arc.
Therefore, the Australia plate subduction velocity ranges from 120 mm/yr
at the southern end of the North New Hebrides trench, to 40 mm/yr at
the D'Entrecasteaux ridge-trench intersection, to 170 mm/yr at the
northern end of the trench.

Large earthquakes are
common along the North New Hebrides trench and have mechanisms
associated with subduction tectonics, though occasional strike slip
earthquakes occur near the subduction of the D'Entrecasteaux ridge.
Within the subduction zone 34 M7.5+ earthquakes have been recorded since
1900. On October 7, 2009, a large interplate thrust fault earthquake
(M7.6) in the northern North New Hebrides subduction zone was followed
15 minutes later by an even larger interplate event (M7.8) 60 km to the
north. It is likely that the first event triggered the second of the
so-called earthquake "doublet".

April 8, 2016 - INDIA - Reeling under an early heat wave, people in Harda district of Madhya
Pradesh received a cool surprise — an ice chunk weighing about 30kg
falling from the sky.

The chunk, believed to be a megacryometeor (ice-stone) or blue
ice, came crashing down in a field on Monday, creating a three-foot-deep
crater upon impact. This comes nearly three months after a similar
incident in Sagar district in which a 60-year-old woman was injured.

The latest incident occurred at Nousar village in Timarini, 40km from
Harda district headquarters. The field belonged to Raj Kumar Patil,
whose younger brother Jitendra Patil was irrigating it at the time. On
hearing the thundering sound, locals came running to the field to find
the chunk had broken into three.

Jitendra said another chunk came crashing down in a field
nearby. "I was very scared. Nearly 14 seconds after the first chunk of
ice fell, another smaller chunk fell in a nearby field.

We informed other villagers who came rushing," he said.

Harda collector Srikant Banot said he will inspect the site and
also rope in geologists and other experts. He said in all probability,
it was blue ice from a plane flying overhead at a great height. He said
he had sent the sub-divisional magistrate to the spot to submit a
report.

According to a research paper, 'Isotopic studies of
megacryometeors in western India' published in March 2013, ice-stones or
megacryometeors form suddenly even during non-cloudy, clear sky when
there is no thunderstorm activity.

"Although their formation is not clearly understood, they are considered
to have an origin different from large hailstones. The research paper
is based on four unusually large ice-stones weighing several kilograms
which fell in western India (Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra ) during
October - November 2010.

According to authors of the research paper, many causal mechanisms have
been hypothesized for the formation and fall of megacryometeors that
include aircraft icing, blue ice or waste water released from aircraft
lavatories, leakage from aircraft water tanks, condensation trails of
jet planesand extraterrestrial origin.

They also pointed out that, according to Martinez-Frias who has
collected data on ice-stones falls across the world, "megacryometeor
fall frequency has increased since 1950 and that 46 fall events have
been recorded between 2001 and 2006 alone". - Hindustan Times.